I may not be the most gracious being in this universe. But I admit that I’ve been shown some cool stuff. More than anybody I was able to relate it to.
But the things I’ve seen, they were all…out there. Out in that upward place that we used to gaze at aeons ago, when all we could do was guess.
This time it was different.
So, I’m a time traveller. Technically. I didn’t, like, set out to be one, it was sort of a byproduct of some other things I was…endowed with. But, whatever. The distinction is important. Without boring you with the technical stuff, I’ve travelled to what you would probably call “the future.”
You see, you can’t only time travel. It comes with…other stuff. As I said before, back home I was considered to be what you might call “special.” And even I can’t isolate the act of time travel; tap a button and go to some other place and time in the snap of a finger. Where I’m from we don’t really expect to ever be able to do that. And even if there’s someone out there who has, he wasn’t able to come back. If he had, he’d have found me. I’d have heard about it.
This woman I was staring at through a glass portal was from a time, a place I couldn’t have travelled to. And, believe me, I’d travelled alot.
If you could see the look in those eyes of hers. There was some distance in there.
I’d been told that I had a light-year stare, a sort of look in my own eyes. I used to hate it when people told me that. I eventually learned to appreciate it.
But this was the first time I’d ever seen that in another pair of eyes. Seen what those people had been trying to tell me all this time.
Her forehead was covered in some kind of blue paint, and on top, a headband, or crown made of semi-hard wood, it looked like. I’d never seen anything like it.
Ceremonial. Archaic. From what must have been a million years in the past.
I could see all of this, just in her eyes. Those eyes that were staring right at mine. Through time and space.
And yet this portal was not the fancy kind. No tech, no flashing lights or alien elevator-boy to make it work for me. Not the kind I could even pass through. It was, solid. Like, frozen.
Neither of us apparently felt the need to say anything for a while.
She was special, alright. Like me. And, from the look she was giving me, it seemed like maybe the feeling was mutual.
Don’t just stand there, T, say something.
“Who are you?”
It wasn’t quite a smile that she showed me. She was amused, but she didn’t quite understand. Her eyes narrowed, searching for something in me.
Or maybe it wasn’t a compelling question. Oh, sorry, wrong frequency.
Try another one, T. “Are you an exiled, too?”
THERE’S the smile.
“Yes.”
As far as I was concerned, that meant we were sisters.
“We can help each other,” she said.
Well, THAT hit me. THAT is a good thing to here in this kind of scenario. We can help each other.
But first, a few more questions.
“Where are you from?”
Her smile faded. She had to search for an answer to this one. “We are the same. We are not near the same space, or time. But we are the same.”
Ok…she knew more than me.
“How do you know??”
“I know. I’ve waited for you. And now you’re here.”
Whatever she was selling, I was ready to buy. Was this portal thing going to let me pass?
She must have seen it in my face. “Don’t,” she warned, raising a hand. “What is your name?”
“Tanta.”
She smiled, again. A beautiful, toothy smile. I have a pretty name, I guess.
“Tanta,” she repeated. And then, raising a finger to her chest, “Senua.”
I had to admit, the name Senua was kinda pretty, too. We laughed. Nothing funny. Just two strangers meeting. Like they must have aeons ago. Like I hadn’t since what felt like aeons ago.
Suddenly, flickering. Pulsing. Something changing. Time’s up.
“Our time will come, sister.”
She was gone.
I had long since forgotten how I’d arrived at the portal in the first place. But that didn’t matter now. Because I had been given back something I lost forever ago.
I didn’t even know what to call it. I had all but forgotten it. Words describing it wouldn’t be enough to relate to anyone. But I didn’t need anyone. Not now. Not for a while.
